Dundas & Victoria Reconstruction (Updated July 25, 2017)

The TTC and the City of Toronto have a joint road and watermain reconstruction project underway on Dundas between Yonge and Church. For a few months, 505 Dundas cars have diverted around the workarea via Bay and College/Carlton, and they are currently returning south via Church. The service is so well established that it has streetcar stops on Church where there has not been regular transit service for decades.

A short piece of track on Dundas Square beside the CITY-TV studios was the last piece of live street trackage in Toronto with paving setts instead of concrete.

Looking W to Victoria 2017.07.15

Looking E on Dundas Sq from Victoria 2017.07.15

The transition to concrete. 2017.07.15

Mon. July 17, 2017

Looking E on Dundas at Victoria 2017.07.17

Looking S on Victoria at Dundas Sq 2017.07.17

Looking W on Dundas Sq to Victoria 2017.07.17

Tue. July 18, 2017

Looking E on Dundas at Victoria 2017.07.18

Looking N on Victoria at Dundas Sq 2017.07.18

Looking N on Victoria toward Dundas 2017.07.18

Dundas at Dundas Sq 2017.07.18

Looking W from Dundas Sq along Dundas to Yonge 2017.07.18

Wed. July 19, 2017

Looking SE on Dundas toward Victoria 2017.07.19

Looking S on Victoria from Dundas 2017.07.19

Special work at Dundas & Victoria 2017.07.19

Looking E on Dundas Sq from Victoria 2017.07.19

Walking track cranes parked on Victoria N of Dundas 2017.07.19

Concrete work continues on the east leg of the intersection, and the special work for remaining sections is sitting on Victoria Street south of Dundas Square awaiting installation.

Fri. July 21, 2017

Looking W from Dundas Sq & Dundas 2017.07.21

Looking E on Dundas Sq across Victoria 2017.07.21

Looking N on Victoria at Dundas Sq 2017.07.21

Looking S on Victoria to Dundas Sq 2017.07.21

Mon. July 24, 2017

A week after construction started, assembly of the major pieces of special work has completed, and attention turns to the various bits of tangent track linking the intersection together and with its three approaches. Concrete work on the Dundas Street leg has begun.

Looking W on Dundas to Dundas Sq 2017.07.24

Dundas Sq & Dundas looking W 2017.07.24

Looking N on Victoria to Dundas Sq 2017.07.24

Looking E on Dundas Sq from Victoria 2017.07.24

Looking Back to 1996

In mid-1996, this intersection was rebuilt, although the south leg was untouched leaving the paving blocks on Dundas Square that have now disappeared. The intersection itself has changed a lot in two decades.

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Steve said: “The service is so well established that it has streetcar stops on Church where there has not been regular transit service for decades.”

Given that Church is so close to Yonge – and has loopable abilities using the Wellington tracks, has the TTC ever though about figuring out how to reuse Church for additional services? I know looping at the top end could be a challenge, and a serious lack of vehicles. But…. one does wonder.

Steve: Yes, the top end would be a problem, but more to the point, “relief” for the Yonge line requires intercepting passengers before they get to the most congested point, not simply providing added capacity in a hard-to-reach location (a far more difficult transfer than Bloor-Yonge station itself). Leaving aside capacity issues, this is a generic problem for all of the proposals of surface relief routes in the core area, and why both GO Transit and the DRL have such important roles in the network.

In the late 1980s, the Bay St. “clearway” was set up, and trolley coach service on 6 Bay was very frequent. While it didn’t help people coming in from north of Bloor, it did help the people arriving at Yonge via the Wellesley bus and Carlton and Dundas cars to get further south to downtown.

The trolley coaches on Bay could operate at quite a clip. But I don’t see a streetcar service on Church being anywhere near as fast. You might as well take the current shadow of the Bay bus, or, if in the east, Sherbourne bus (frequent, but frequently packed with George Brown students).

Westbound Dundas Street closed for one week between Church and Victoria Streets

Effective immediately, westbound traffic will not be able to travel on Dundas Street between Church and Victoria Streets until July 28 due to road conditions.

From July 17 to September 16, eastbound traffic is not able to travel on Dundas Street between Bay and Church Streets, as the City of Toronto completes watermain construction work, and starts TTC track work and road resurfacing along Dundas Street.

In addition, Victoria Street will be closed in both directions, between Dundas Street and south of Dundas Square during the same July to September period.

The overall project is ahead of schedule and is expected to be completed on September 30 instead of on October 31. The work is being done to reduce the risk of future watermain breaks and improve the quality of the streetcar tracks.

Extended hours, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., are being used for this project. In addition, some portions of the work will take place on a 24/7 basis to help minimize the disruption. However, the noisy work including concrete breaking and removal will stop at 11 p.m.

Signs on Dundas Street will inform drivers of the closures to help manage traffic in the area. Traffic signal timing changes will be made on parallel routes. Gerrard and Queen Streets are alternative routes for drivers to consider using in the area. More details about traffic staging for this work is available at http://www.toronto.ca/downtownconstructionprojects

Oct. 11, 2018: The article requesting comments on charts to display headway reliability has been updated again with a new set of charts showing the distribution of headways by time of day and location in “box and whisker” format.